Method of making cloth buffs



Sept. 17, 1957 J. J. LAWLER METHOD OF MAKING CLOTH BUF'FS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 28, 1956 PB Z mm p 17, 1957 J. J. LAWLER 2,806,332

METHOD OF MAKING CLOTH BUFFS Filed June 28, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Sept. 17, 1957 J. J. LAWLER 5 3 METHOD OF MAKING CLOTH BUFFS Filed June 28. 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 lgzz e'nfur (/amv J Lava-1e n t Statement Ofiics 2,806,332 Patented Sept. 17, 1957 2,806,332 METHOD OF MAKING CLOTH BUFFS John J. Lawler, Chicago, IlL, assignor to-Ajax Butt Company, Chicago, 11]., a'corporation of illinois Application June 28, 1956, Serial No. 594,531 7 Claims. (Cl. l193) The present invention relates to an improved fabric bulf and a method and apparatus for manufacturing it. More particularly, the invention is concerned with the construction of a buff having improved density and substantially greater'uniformity of distribution of the buff material about its retainin hub.

I am, of course, familiar with thefact that numerous cl'o'th butt constructions have been manufactured and used for many years; One of the most useful buff constructions has been the type employing a metal hub upon which an annular body of fabric is secured.- Various methods have been utilized in the past to provide a satisfactory annulus of cloth for such buffs. For example, some have constructed the butts of a plurality of layers of fabric laid flat with a hub aperture cut from the center. Another method of construction has utilized a generally tubular section of buff material which is subsequently drawn, by means of wire drawstring or the like inwardly at a point along the axial length of the tubular buff por tion to thereby provide a restricted or small diameter hub portion. Such a drawstring technique provides a pleated elfect, which is in a general sense desirable. However, when the drawstring or other prior methods are applied, the resulting buff ordinarily is of insufficient uniformity to provide a truly satisfactorily balanced high speed bulf.

In accordance with the present invention an unusually dense and uniformly pleated bufi is constructed by pleata ing or ruffiip-g one edge of a tubular section of cloth. The pleating of such a single edge may be accomplished on conventional sewing equipment with substantially exact pleat spacing. Further, by thus pleating one edge of a tubular section of butt. cloth a substantially exact internal buff diameter may be achieved through adjustment of the pleat width and spacing, thereby-obviatingbunching or bulging during the final assembly of the'bufl cloth onto a hub.

In accordance with th'e present invention, the manufacture of bulfs may be further reduced in cost by providing a tubular section of buff cloth of twice the width needed for a single buff section and by simultaneously stitching and slitting the tubular section at its mid point. it is, accordingly, an object of [the present invention to provide an improved method of manufacturing a uniform, non bunching, cloth buff.

' Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved essentially completely balanced annular cloth buffing ring for use in high speed bufling operations.

Yet 'a' further object of the p'resent invention is to provide a 'nr'iironniy pleated'clot h butt having an exactly "controlle'd'internal diameter and being constructed with the strands of buff fabric lying on a bias relative to the radius'of the buff; I

A 'fea'ture'o'f theinventi'on isthe construction ofapleated bias cut annular clo'th bulf by means of a uniform gathering' or-pleating of one edge of a c ylinder of cloth-buff material.

Still other and further objects and features of the present invention will at once become apparent to those skilled in the arts upon a consideration of the attached drawings wherein a preferred embodiment of the invention is shown by way of illustration only, andwherein Figure 1 illustrates a method of preparing a cylindrical tube of buff material in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 is a plan view of a combined stitching and slitting operation in accordance with the principles of the present invention;

Figure 3 is an end elevational view of the arrangement shown in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a plan view of the buff material and apparatus arranged for uniformly pleating the butt in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 5 is an end elevational view of the arrangement shown in Figure 4; and V Figure "6 is a partial end elevational view of a butt constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

As shown on the drawings: p a

As may be seen from a consideration of Figure 1 buifs constructedin'accordance with the principles of the present invention are preferably constructed from a bolt 10 of woven fabric having the woven fibers thereof cut on the' bias as indicated at 11. The cloth may be pieced to provide the bias arrangement prior to winding in the form of the bolt 10, or the bias may be achieved in any other suitable manner.

The butt fabric is fed to a mandrel 12 upon which it is wound to form a tubular cylinder. It has been found that ei ht thicknesses of cloth provide a very satisfactory butt ring When the method of the present invention is utilized, but it will be understod that the number of thicknesses, or plies, may be varied without departing from the present invention.

After the desired number of plies of fabric have been Wound upon the mandrel 12, the cloth is cut from the bolt 10 and transferred to a sewing machine generally indicated at 15, having a table 16, a pair of presser feet 17, 18, respective sewing needles 19, 20 and a slitting knife 21. As may be seen from a consideration of Figure 2, the tube of wound fabric is simultaneously stitched, as at 22, 23 by the respective sewing machine needles 19 and 20. At the same time, the slitting knife 21 automatically cuts the tube of material into a pair of symmetrical annular :bulf rings 10a and 10b. By thus simultaneously stitching two buffs and slitting the tube into a pair of bulf rings, the stitching which holds the plies together during further manufacturing may be accomplished simply and very accurately without any tendency whatever of the material to bunch or otherwise follow a non-linear path as sometimes occurs when a sewing machine is operated at high speed along the very edge of a substantial thickness of material.

.After the buff rings 10a and 1% have been stitched as shown in Figures 2 and 3, each of the rings is then separately uniformly pleated. Since the multiple plies of the individual bufi rings have been initially securely stitched in the step above described, the buff rings may be accurately pleated on a single needle sewing machine in the manner shown in Figures 4 and 5. As there shown, a buff ring 10a is fed beneath a presser foot ,25 {of a sewing machine generally indicated at 24. The sewing machine has a cloth feeding mechanism forcing the material under the presser foot 25 and, additionally, has a pleating or gathering arm 26 carrying fingers 26a, 26b and 260. The arm or bar 26 reciprocates in the plane of the sewing machine table 27 'and;acts to tuck the :fabric in folds lllc as-shown in Figure 5 bymeans of the fingers.

presser foot extension or pleat guide 29 secured to a support bar 29b by flange 29a.

As a result of the pleating step above described, a buff ring having an initial diameter may be reduced at the stitched edge to a predetermined exact inside buff ring diameter by varying the stroke of the reciprocating bar 26. Thus it is possible to provide an absolutely exact internal buff diameter without in any way decreasing the uniformity of pleating, and hence, fabric distribution around the buff ring.

After the second row of stitching 30 is applied and the edge 31 of the annular buff ring has been reduced to its final internal buff ring diameter, the buff ring is laid flat on a metallic buff hub 32 and is secured thereto by means of spaced metal bent over piercing fingers 33 passing through the buff ring as indicated in Figure 6 for clinched-over cooperation with a retaining ring 34. This attachment may be, as shown, in the manner illustrated in my prior patent No. 2,602,273. It will be understood that the specific method of attachment of the cloth buff ring at its inner peripheral edge, to the hub, does not form a part of the present invention and such attachment may, if desired, be provided-bymeans of staples or other conventional securing devices. However, in view of the complete uniformity of the pleating operation provided by thepresent method, it has been foundthat the buff rings may be stacked in a substantial number of thicknesses without varying the balance of the buff and without any local bunching of the material at the hub which might provide a Weight imbalance as well as a physical irregularity in the buff contour.

It will thus be seen that I have provided an effective methodof manufacturing a cloth buff, as well as a substantially improved bufi structure. In actual practice it has been found that eight plies of bias cut fabric wound on a mandrel to provide a tubular buff ring having a 61 inch circumference may be satisfactorily reduced through a uniform pleating operation as above described to an internal diameter of 7 inches without any unevenness. While in many buifing operations the two rows of stitching at 22 and will suffice, it is understood that where a particularly hard buff is desired, a plurality of buff rings may be spirally stitched subsequent to attachment of the inner edge 31 of the successive buff rings to a hub member 32. It will be appreciated, however, thatas result of the uniformity of pleating achieved by means of the present method of buff construction, a smooth bufiing action will occur when the buff is operated without additional stitching subsequent to that applied at 30.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variations may be made in the method and buff above described without departing from the scope of the novel concepts of the present invention. Accordingly, it is my intention that the scope of the invention be limited solely by the scope of the hereinafter appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. The method of manufacturing a buff comprising the steps of winding a length of cloth material on a mandrel to provide a tubular ring of multi-ply fabric of a circumference substantially the same as the desired outside circumference of a finished buff, stitching one edge of said tubular ring continuously to secure said plies together, and simultaneously pleating and stitching said edge to reduce said edge to a uniform desired internal circumference, and securing said edge of the buff ring to a butt hub.

2. The method of manufacturing a buff comprising the steps of providing a length of Woven material having the axis of the fibers thereof lying at an acute angle to the longitudinal axis of the length of material, winding said length of material on a mandrel to provide a tubular ring of multi-ply fabric of a circumference substantially the same as the desired outside circumference of a finished buif, stitching one edge of said buff ring to secure said plies together, continuously and simultaneously pleating and stitching said edge to reduce said edge to a uniform desired internal diameter, and securing said edge of the buff ring to a buff hub.

3. The method of manufacturing a fabric buff of a predetermined external diameter and a predetermined internal hub diameter which comprises the steps of providing a length of fabric having the fibers thereof running at an acute angle to the longitudinal axis of said length of fabric and having a width double the difference in said diameters, winding said length of fabric on a mandrel to provide a tubular ring of multiple plies, stitching said tubular ring in a pair of annular rows of stitching spaced on opposite sides of the mid point of said tubular ring, slitting said ring between said rows of stitching to provide a pair of multi-ply buff rings stitched on one edge, simultaneously pleating and stitching each ring along said one edge thereof in a plurality of uniform pleats, and securing the said one edge to a bufi hub.

4. The method of manufacturing a fabric buff of a predetermined external diameter and a predetermined internal hub diameter which comprises the steps of providing a length of fabric having the fibers thereof running at an acute angle to the longitudinal axis of said length of fabric and having a width double the difference in said diameters, winding said length of fabric on a mandrel to provide a tubular ring of multiple plies, simultaneously and continuously stitching said tubular ring in a pair of annular rows of stitching spaced on opposite sides of the mid point of the cloth ring and slitting said ring between said rows of stitching to provide a pair of multi-ply buff rings each stitched on one edge, simultaneously pleating and stitching each buff ring along said one edge, and securing the said one edge to a buff hub.

5. The method of manufacturing a buff comprising the steps of winding a length of cloth material on a mandrel to provide a tubular ring of multi-ply fabric of a predetermined circumference, stitching one edge of said tubular ring continuously to secure said plies together, and simultaneously pleating and stitching said one edge to reduce said one edge to a uniform desired reduced internal circumference, and securing the edge of said buff ring to a buff hub.

6. The method of manufacturing a buff ring comprising the steps of winding a length of cloth material on a mandrel to provide a tubular ring of multi-ply fabric of a predetermined circumference, holding the plies of said tubular ring together at one edge of said tubular ring and simultaneously pleating and stitching said one edge to reduce said one edge to a uniform desired reduced internal circumference.

7. The method of manufacturing a buff comprising the steps of winding a length of cloth material on a mandrel to provide a tubular ring of multi-ply fabric of a predetermined circumference, holding the plies of said tubular ring together at one edge of said tubular ring and simultaneously pleating and stitching said one edge to reduce said one edge to a uniform desired reduced internal circumference, and securing said one edge of the buff ring to a buff hub.

References Cited in the file of this patent FOREIGN PATENTS 157,225 Australia June 24, 1954 

